


Not Broken Just Bent

by sparkinside (boomersoonerash)



Series: Bite Sized Fics [39]
Category: Hanson (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Anthem Era, Bad Jokes, Canon Compliant, Chinese Food, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Hotels, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Kissing, Mild Language, No Smut, Prompt Fic, Realization, Road Trips, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a Room, Surprise Kissing, Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 15:51:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8062444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boomersoonerash/pseuds/sparkinside
Summary: Isaac and Natalie head out on a road trip to Chicago to bail Taylor out of jail and while stopped at a hotel they both find something they need.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Evil_Little_Dog](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Little_Dog/gifts).



> written for this prompt from comment_fic: Any, M+/F, "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."  
> "Did you just quote The Blues Brothers at me?"
> 
> I have been working on this one-shot for two months now so it feels good to have it done but sorry if the tone shifts a bit. It's from working with it on/off for two months.

Isaac shook his head as he sat in his car after getting a phone call from Taylor. It seemed his brother had somehow landed himself in jail in Chicago, a trip Isaac hadn't even known he was on and now he wanted Isaac to come and pick him up as well as bring Natalie because she was the one who was bailing him out.

Isaac wasn't even sure why she was bailing him out though, especially since he had probably taken this trip to go and cheat on her which he was known for. Though Isaac wasn't sure he had any right to judge Taylor on his cheating when Isaac used to be as bad. He had cheated on Nikki and in the end it was partly why he had lost her. He had lost her because of his cheating and while he had been cheating she too had started to mess around. Sleeping with her fitness instructor and well she had left him for the fitness instructor and Isaac guessed in the end he was thankful they had no children together.

But Taylor and Natalie did and maybe that was why she was bailing him out. For their five children. Maybe that was also why she was staying with him too, out of duty to their children and well if they didn't have anymore she could probably leave him in fifteen more years when Willa turned eighteen.

Starting his car up he drove towards his brothers house, hoping that Natalie was ready because it was already going on five pm and Chicago was a good ten hour drive from where they were now and he wanted to get on the road and at least get a few hours in before they had to stop to sleep for the night. It was something Isaac at least hoped Taylor considered, that they'd be stopping to sleep and he'd at least have to spend a full night in jail.

When he arrived at Taylor's house, Isaac didn't even have a chance to put his hand on the horn to honk. Seeing Natalie barreling out with a duffle bag in hand as she headed to his car.

"Can you pop the trunk for me?" Natalie asked when she made it there, talking loud enough that even he could hear her through the closed vehicle window. He supposed being a mom to five she had learned to make herself loud so people could hear her when they needed too.

Nodding his head Isaac pressed the button to pop the trunk and once he had, he watched in his rear view mirror as Natalie put her bags in before finally walking to get in the passenger side and once she was in, Isaac just turned to look at her. A tiny smile playing on his lips.

"It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses," Isaac muttered a bit playfully as he reached for his sunglasses, slipping them on before backing his car out of the drive way. He had just wanted to ease some of the tension between them. Tension that he knew was there because they were both angry at Taylor right now.

"Did you just quote The Blues Brothers at me?" Natalie asked a bit snappy and maybe Isaac hadn't broken the tension. Maybe he had only made it worse.

Isaac shrugged as he kept his eyes on the road, "Depends," he told her as he reached to turn on the radio because he had a feeling besides it playing that the drive until they stopped to sleep would be a silent one. "Did you find it funny?"

"Not really," Natalie answered as she turned to face him. "Not really in the mood for anything funny right now Isaac."

"Then forget I did it Nata," Isaac told her as he turned to look at her briefly, wondering when she had started to look so old and less like the enthusiastic woman she used to be.

Probably around her third baby and Taylor's billionth time cheating more than likely.

"But you really shouldn't let what Taylor does steal your happiness," he finished and after he spoke, he heard Natalie humph before the vehicle fell silent except for the songs playing on the radio.

***

"I can't believe we have to share a room," Natalie whined as she lead the way inside of the hotel room, turning her head to look at Isaac who was walking behind her. "You'd think the hotel would have more rooms available," she sighed softly.

They had been driving for almost six hours and it was going on eleven when Isaac had decided to stop at the best looking hotel he could find in the small town they had been near. But even if it was the best looking hotel it seemed they lacked in rooms tonight thanks to a wedding that had taken place in the banquet hall and so the only other room left available was their second honeymoon suite.

Which while it looked big to Natalie she still wasn't too keen on sharing a room with Isaac. Heck she wasn't even too keen on being on this trip with Isaac. She would have much rather made it alone but Taylor had insisted that Isaac come and pick him up with Natalie. For Natalie's safety.

Though Natalie found that funny, Taylor cared about her safety but he surely didn't care about her feelings or her heart. If he cared about those then he wouldn't always be cheating..taking trips to cheat.

That was why he was in Chicago right now. He had came here to see the woman he had been cheating on Natalie with this time..another woman to add to the list of countless others. Except this one had been married herself and her husband and Taylor had gotten into a fist fight. A fight that had landed them both in jail where Taylor now sat because Natalie was on her way to bail him out.

She knew deep down she probably should have let him stay in there for just a bit longer. But she also knew the longer he was in, the more chances of the press finding out if they hadn't already and Natalie didn't want that. Didn't want the press knowing or his fans knowing that the pretty little family facade she put up was fake. Didn't want her kids knowing just how awful their parents marriage truly was.

They already had to live with the rumors, they didn't need confirmation. So Natalie was playing the good little housewife that she was and she was bailing him out.

"Well at least it has a couch, so we won't have to share a bed," Isaac added in as he shut the door behind himself and as he did, Natalie fully turned to face him. Watching as he sat their bags down on the floor near the bathroom.

She knew was being unreasonably rude to him but then again it was no secret she had never got on well with Isaac. He had never been her biggest fan when she had turned up pregnant and sometimes she swore that he thought she had trapped Taylor.

Which she hadn't done and if she could go back in time now she'd have stopped her teenage self from giving in to hormones and having sex with Taylor without a condom. At least then maybe she'd be in a happy marriage with a husband who wasn't always cheating on her.

"Guess there is an upside after all," Natalie replied back as she walked to the bed and fell back, looking at the ceiling.

She was exhausted and tired and dreading the rest of the drive to Chicago already.

"So what did Taylor do exactly to get in jail?" Isaac asked breaking Natalie out of her thoughts as the bed shifted under his weight and she looked down to see him sitting on the edge of the bed, the first three buttons of his black button down shirt undone.

Natalie laughed softly as she sat up some, looking at Isaac better before speaking, "The woman he's fucking around with right now is married," she revealed before pausing slightly. "Her husband and Taylor got into a fist fight and they both wound up in jail but of course the woman bailed her husband out and so I'm bailing mine out."

Isaac made a face at that as he shook he shook his head, "You should have just let him stay in jail for a bit longer."

"Maybe so," Natalie agreed as she looked away from Isaac's gaze. "But I have my reasons for not doing that," she admitted as she finally moved from the bed. "I have my reasons for everything I do."

"Doesn't everyone," Isaac spoke after her last statement which made Natalie raise an eyebrow as she walked to her bags, getting out her pajamas so that she could shower.

Once she had them in her hand she turned to look at Isaac, "I'm going to shower, can you order something from one of the take out menu's?" she asked as she pointed to the dresser at the menu's she had spotted beside the TV when she had first came inside the room. "I know it's late but something has to be open and I'm hungry enough that I may resort to cannibalism soon if I don't get real food."

Isaac only laughed at her words, a real hearty laugh, which surprised her because she was sure she had never made Isaac laugh before.

"I'd like to live and not be eaten, so I'll find somewhere for you Nata," Isaac nodded using the nickname that he had used in the car.

A nickname that Taylor had once affectionately used for her, way back when Natalie was convinced they may had had some semblance of a good marriage. Though even then she was probably fooling herself.

Always fooling herself when it came to Taylor.

Giving Isaac a small nod back, Natalie turned her back on him and headed into the bathroom to have a shower and change into her pajamas. Hopefully a nice hot shower would ease some of her tiredness and some of the tension and dread that was in her body.

***

Isaac looked over at Natalie skeptically two hours later. Both had showered and changed for the night and now they were sitting at the table in the hotel room, indulging in takeout Chinese food.

"Why are you looking at me as if I have two heads?" Natalie asked as she sipped on one of the drinks that had been in the minibar. "I don't have two heads."

"I know you don't Nata," Isaac spoke as he rolled his eyes. "Just surprised you haven't been mean to me anymore," he said before taking a long drink of his water, deciding that one of them at least needed to refrain from alcohol on this mini road trip and since Natalie was drinking from the minibar he knew then that it had to be him who abstained, even if it pained him.

Natalie looked away from him at that though, a blush forming on her cheeks, "I can be nice," she finally spoke before looking back at him. "I just..I guess I'm not used to being alone with you," she confessed her voice going softer. "And you kind of make me intimidated."

"I do?!" Isaac asked feeling a bit shocked at that revelation.

"You do," Natalie nodded her head. "It's not a secret you don't like me and I guess that's always just made me feel intimidated so I make myself sarcastic and rude around you."

Isaac heaved a sigh at her words and this time it was him who looked away from her. 

"I may not have liked you at first," Isaac admitted copping to the fact that when Taylor had first married her, he hadn't been her biggest fan. "But you've grown from the bratty eighteen year old you were then," he said as he looked back at her, seeing her face soften some at his words. "Turned into an okay woman I'd say."

Natalie's blush grew at that as she took a bigger drink from the alcohol that she was drinking, "Well that's a change," she spoke with a slight smile. "Though I'm sure we'll never be friends."

"No, we'll probably never be friends," Isaac agreed with a nod of his head. "But maybe we can at least get along without you biting my head off."

"Sounds like a deal to me," Natalie said as she lifted her drink up and Isaac reached for his water and as they lightly tipped their drinks against each other he knew that at least maybe this was the start of a new leaf for him and Natalie. 

One in which they could at least get along now when in the company of each other. Instead of her biting his head off and him being a dick right back just to be one.

After that, they finished the rest of their dinner in silence before both agreeing to go to bed given the long day they had ahead of them tomorrow.

"You know," Natalie spoke as she pulled down the blankets of the bed. "You really don't have to sleep on the couch."

Isaac who had heard her words, just paused as he looked at her, wondering if he was hearing her right.

"Are you sure?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow. "I mean it wouldn't be my first time sleeping on a couch. Nikki used to make me sleep on them a lot when we were married."

Natalie nodded her head softly, "I'm sure," she spoke her voice going all soft. "Anyway it's nice not to sleep alone sometimes," she added on before slipping into the bed. "Just having another body next to you feels nice."

"Yeah, sometimes it does," Isaac agreed as he walked to the bed and slowly he got in bedside Natalie. 

It had been a year or better since he properly slept next to a woman and the thought for some reason made him nervous. As much of a ladies man that he used to be in the past, he no longer was. No longer feeling the need to be after losing and taking for granted a woman who had meant the world to him.

"Nata," Isaac spoke after a few minutes of laying in bed. "You know you deserve better than Taylor right?" he asked as he turned to look at her, surprised to find her turned to face him and maybe a bit surprised at the closeness of their bodies as well.

Natalie only nodded her head, "I know," she confirmed with a slight frown. "Maybe one day I'll actually be brave enough to leave him and find better," she sighed as her frown grew. "Just not today."

"Not today but sometime before it's too late," Isaac told her as he reached out to move some hair that had fallen down into her eyes, the action causing a spark of something to go through his body. "Sometime before you lose the spark of what you once were altogether."

Natalie again nodded her head but instead of answering him with words, she leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips and Isaac knew he shouldn't have kissed her back but he did. He kissed her and pulled her closer to him.

Not sure how or why they had even kissed but it seemed or maybe it felt like the right thing at this moment anyway so he wasn't going to complain.

***

Kissing Isaac a bit harder when he pulled her closer, Natalie let her eyes fall shut as the kiss continued and a part of her wasn't even sure why she had kissed him other than it felt like the right thing to do.

So here she was kissing a man who up until tonight she had been convinced, hated her and she found she didn't really have any problems with kissing him.

Nor did he have any problems kissing her and so maybe somehow they both needed this kiss for one reason or another.

Feeling Isaac pull away though after a bit, Natalie looked at him searching his eyes, afraid that maybe he was mad now or upset.

"We shouldn't go much farther than that Nata," Isaac spoke his voice a bit rougher but somehow soft, softer than she had ever heard it anyway. "You're married to my brother and even though you deserve better I'm not sure doing more than that here and now is going to be the solution."

Natalie moved farther away from Isaac, knowing deep down he was right. Doing anymore than kissing wouldn't fix her problem. In fact if she cheated like Taylor did it would probably make it worse.

"You're right," she acknowledged almost wishing he wasn't right. "We shouldn't do more..can't do more," she spoke as she took a few deep breaths to settle herself. "I'm sorry for kissing you."

Isaac shook his head before locking eyes with Natalie, "Don't be sorry for that," he frowned. "You liked it...I liked it and we both needed it. Don't be sorry."

Nodding her head, Natalie knew she'd have to keep telling herself not to be sorry. Not to feel sorry...and maybe with the memory of their shared kiss..well maybe it'd make her grow a backbone sooner rather than later and leave Taylor. Find someone who actually deserved her...stop caring that she had five kids with Taylor and what the world would think of her raising five kids after a divorce.

"Maybe this road trip to bail Taylor out was a good thing after all," Natalie spoke as she turned to look up at the ceiling. "We both sorta got something we needed out of it," she said though a part of her couldn't help but wonder exactly what it was Isaac had needed.

Natalie had needed it as a semi boost to her ego and her backbone....but why had Isaac needed the kiss?

"Yeah, maybe," Isaac agreed and Natalie turned away from the ceiling to look at him, their eyes connecting again and this time as they did she swore she saw something else there that she couldn't quite place.

Something she used to see in her own eyes in old pictures of her and Taylor. Something that had faded over time thanks to so much hurt..it was a look that scared her just a bit because she wasn't sure what it meant.

But well she could hopefully find out once she was no longer Taylor's wife. Whenever that was.


End file.
